


He's A Keeper

by Parkingwarsfanfiction



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, Light Angst, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 21:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13889256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parkingwarsfanfiction/pseuds/Parkingwarsfanfiction
Summary: You are a CIA agent, given the job of babysitting Everett Ross after he returns back to America. It’s not a great situation, you didn’t want to be his body guard, and he didn’t want you to be his babysitter. You think that the whole job is ridiculous... Until something happens that changes your mind.





	He's A Keeper

“Are you (Y/N)?” 

These were the first words you heard as you waited impatiently outside of an airport, the D.C. breeze making you chilly. It’s too cold for this shit, you had thought in the moments before you were approached. Why me? You continued. Why do I have to babysit some CIA agent coming from Wakanda? As if there were tons of secrets coming from that third world country? Like whatever he knew was going to garner a militia against him? God, this is the stupidest thing I could be put into. You certainly had not volunteered to be in this position, everyone was just as annoyed by the idea as you. But, you were the new hire, meaning you got the job. 

“Yeah, that’s me. You’re Ross, then?” You replied. 

The man in front of you was barely a few inches taller than you, with the obvious clean cut CIA look. You couldn’t help but think he was handsome. And he looked about as displeased to be there as you were. You both looked each other over, making your instant judgments. 

“Yeah. You, uh, ready to go?” He shifted uncomfortably where he was standing. 

“Yep.” You said, briskly leading him to your car. 

You climbed into the front seat, setting up the GPS so that it would go to the two bedroom apartment you both had to stay at until he was cleared to go back to his own apartment. According to your boss, he was a possible target for people trying to gain insight on Wakanda. You still couldn’t understand what was so important about this plain seeming CIA agent. He sat down in the passenger's seat, and you gave each other an awkward glance before you started the car and drove in silence.  
Well, this should be fun. You thought.

***

It had been one week since you began babysitting Everett K. Ross. Since then, being his guardian had shown a few perks. You got to meet superheroes such as Iron Man and Captain America before Ross went into confidential meetings with them. Meeting Iron Man for the first time made it difficult to keep up with your indifferent facade, you couldn’t help but be mildly awestruck as he shook your hand and said,

“Welcome to the crew.” 

Ross gave you an unimpressed look and you angrily retreated back into your typical persona. 

The downside to meeting Iron Man, however, was having to wait four hours for Ross to get out of the meeting. It felt like forever that you had to sit there and fiddle with your phone. You got more increasingly agitated as the time passed. How could you have gotten this shitty job? Just as you were about to call your boss and beg to have any other job, Ross finally exited the room. He looked exhausted.  
“Let’s just get out of here.” He said to you. You nodded in curt agreement and breezed out of the building.

“Nice one with Stark back there. I hope you don’t always look like a deer in the headlights when something happens.” He sneered as you both entered an elevator. 

You blushed angrily.

“Whatever, can’t I enjoy one part of my job? I never asked to be your babysitter.” You shot back as soon as the door shut.

“Yeah? Well, I never even wanted one in the first place.” He crossed his arms, giving you a side look.

“Well, you’re the one who decided to fuck off to Wakanda for a few weeks and take a vacation!” You shouted. 

There was practically an audible snap in Ross.

“I did NOT ask to be in Wakanda! I was only there because I had been shot! Because I was DYING!” He yelled. 

You looked over at him, completely baffled. He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

There was a long silence.

“You got shot... and they took you to a third world country to get it fixed?” You asked.

“It’s confidential.” He snipped, turning away from you. 

A minute passed. You thought about the whole situation.

“I’m sorry.” You said, reluctantly. “I didn’t know you were shot.” 

You stared straight ahead at the door but could see him looking at you out of the corner of your eye.

“Thank you.” He replied softly. 

The door opened and you both walked out together.

***

Things started to get better from there. 

He couldn’t tell you very much about Wakanda, but on boring nights he told you a few stories. About him accidentally scaring the princess and being called “Colonizer,”

“I probably deserved it.” He had said, laughing. 

You joined in, cracking up at how he had been told Shuri called him a ‘broken white boy.’

One night, he told you about how beautiful the land and the people were. You ate up as many stories as he could tell, dreaming of a place with rolling plains and grandiose sunsets. You wished you could see it for yourself. You started to enjoy each others’ company. Everything continued to go smoothly, no problems at all regarding Ross’ safety, until a party at a CIA office in downtown DC. It was a Christmas party, held by Tony Stark. You were beyond excited, a good chunk of the Avengers would be there. Captain America, Bruce Banner, even Thor. You were jittery with anticipation. 

“For God's sake, (Y/N), at this rate you’ll scare them all away.” Ross smiled at you from passenger’s seat of your car. 

You had given up hiding your feelings around him after he told you the whole story of him getting shot. You were still at a loss as to how he had been saved from a gunshot wound to his spinal cord with Wakandan technology, but you had sworn you wouldn’t discuss it and left it at that. You chatted cheerfully all the way until you made it to the party. 

“You know, I really do think I’m safe. Maybe just this once I could have some time to socialize without you breathing down my neck?” He asked. 

You laughed. 

“I suppose so...” you trailed off, somewhat nervous. 

You arrived at the building, looking up at it. It was beautiful against the sunset. Maybe you could let Ross have a break, you thought. You parked, exiting the car and heading inside of the building. 

The party was darkly lit, putting you on edge. There was an open bar and tables and chairs everywhere. The place was littered with famous superheroes and members of SHIELD. It was impossible for someone to infiltrate this, you thought, and Everett had wanted some time to himself. So you decided to let it slip just this one night. As you went to grab a soda from the bar, Tony Stark sauntered up to talk to you. 

“Hey there, (Y/N), good to see you.” He shook your hand and you tried hard not to blush. 

“Hello, Mr. Stark, good to see you, too.” You replied, the bartender handing you your drink. 

“Listen,” Stark said, leaning against the bar, “I just wanted to thank you for keeping an eye out on my buddy Ross. I appreciate you looking out for him. I don’t know if you knew this, but he got injured in Wakanda, and now that he’s back I just wanted to make sure he was keeping up alright.”

You smiled, feigning ignorance about Everett’s injury. 

“Yeah, no, he’s doing fine, I didn’t even know he had gotten hurt.” You assured him. 

As you looked towards the other side of the bar, you could see a pretty redhead handing Ross a drink. You felt a pang in your stomach and blinked, shifting back your attention to Stark.

“I know it may seem weird about this whole Wakanda thing, but I just want you to know that I’m glad you haven’t been taking it lightly. What he knows about Wakanda is extremely confidential, believe it or not, and there’s a lot of bad that could happen if that information got into the wrong hands.” 

You digested the information and glanced back at Ross, who was smiling and chatting with the woman. He put his glass down a bit sloppily and spilled some of the drink. Had he really gotten tipsy that quickly? How many drinks had he had?

“Everything okay?” Stark asked. 

You turned back to him.

“Yeah, yeah,” You assured him. “Sorry, I guess I just don’t realize what all the fuss is about. Not that it’s any of my business.” 

“I know it’s hard to understand, but just treat it as if it’s the most important thing in the world because it’s possible that it is.” He replied. 

You looked back to Ross, only to find that he was gone. You quickly scanned the room, looking for him. You caught a glimpse of him leaning heavily on the woman as they entered an elevator. It dawned on you what was happening. 

“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I’ve got to go.” You said quickly. You didn’t hear what the billionaire said as you left, quickly running and trying to stop the elevator. 

The doors closed as Everett looked up at you, completely dazed. You looked around, trying to find a fast way down. Something grabbed your hand, pulling you. It was Stark. 

“Stairs!” Was all he said as he led you to a door. You both entered, running quickly down the stairs. Stark stopped, calling after you. 

“I saw where the elevator was headed. They’re going to the lobby, keep going, I’ll get someone down there to try and stop them!” 

You ran down what felt like a million stairs, faster than you ever have in your life. When you reached the lobby, you saw a flash of red hair leaving the front door, and two FBI agents heading towards you. You ignored them, running out and into the parking lot. The woman was trying to drive out, but suddenly her windshield shattered and the car halted. You looked up to where the blast had come from to see Stark on the roof of the tower, wearing an Iron Man gauntlet. He saluted you and you gave him a grateful wave before running to the car. One of the agents was pulling the woman out and arresting her. You ran to the passenger’s side and opened the door to reveal a barely conscious Ross, gazing up at you with cloudy eyes. 

“(Y/N)?” He murmured quietly. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” You replied, putting his arm around your shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here, Everett.” 

You took him into the lobby, where Stark had FRIDAY check his vitals with the Iron Man helmet.

“There are no signs of poisoning, but I do detect Flunitrazepam in his system. He’ll recover after sleeping.” She stated. 

You breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alright,” Tony said, cheerfully. “Well, then I’ll just have you take him-“ 

Ross started to make noises from inside the helmet, leaning forward.

“Boss, I do believe that he may be nauseous-“ 

Before FRIDAY could finish, Ross vomited. Stark shot forward, quickly removing the helmet.

“Okay, that’s disgusting.” He said, dropping it on the on the ground. Ross finished vomiting and looked up at you with sad puppy dog eyes. 

“Yeah, I’ll put him in your custody now, so I can deal with... this,” Stark said, gesturing at the vomit. 

You thanked him for his help and he had the car pulled around. He helped you lug Ross into the car. As you drove home, the incredibly intoxicated man rambled to you. 

“There’s vibranium... in wakanda..” He slurred. “Tons o’ it. They used it to-to save me... from the bullet…”

“Ross, you probably shouldn’t be telling me this.” You said, despite being immensely curious about what had happened.

“I’m tired of hidin’ it. I want to talk ‘bout it. It was scary. I was laying on the ground… It hurt. I couldn’t move…” 

You glanced worriedly at him, but he said the whole thing somewhat nonchalantly. He continued talking mumbling about what happened until you parked in from the apartment complex. You looked over to see him passed out, his head lolling over. 

“Ross,” You said, gently nudging him. He jerked awake. 

“I’smybag!” He slurred, gaining his surroundings. 

“C’mon,” You said, laughing. “Let’s get you inside.” 

After leading him up to your apartment, you were unlocking the door when he started making noises.

“Oh God, I’m gonna puke.” He whispered. 

You rushed him to the bathroom, just in time for him to reach the toilet and throw up. He gagged, heaving up everything in his stomach. You felt a little nauseated but bucked up, rubbing his back as he dry-heaved into the bowl. After a minute he caught his breath and slumped against the wall, exhausted. 

“You okay now?” You asked him. 

He simply nodded, wiping the vomit off with the sleeve of his sweater. You went and grabbed a clean shirt, helping him remove the sweater and put the shirt on. You helped stand him up and brushed his teeth, finally leading him into his room. You let him go for a second because your phone started buzzing, but he leaned into you. At first, you thought he was falling, but then his lips pressed into yours and you tasted mint. You let yourself go for a moment, lingering in the kiss, but then got ahold of yourself. 

“Ev, you’re under the influence.” You whispered. 

“I know.” He replied.

“You need to go to sleep now.” You sat him down on his bed and he looked up at you with his soft blue eyes. 

“Stay with me?” He asked. You smiled, sitting down in a chair next to his bed. 

“Of course.” You replied.

As he laid down you finally got to check your phone. It was a text from an unknown number. 

He’s a keeper, BTW.  
-TS 

You smiled, replying,

I know.  
-(Y/N)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! Thank you for reading my first work, and feel free to leave any constructive criticism!


End file.
